Here is CEF’s latest update. Probably of greatest interest: #2 - Senate Budget Committee Hearing. I don’t know if any members — or anyone in adult ed — has approached anyone on the committee about asking a question regarding adult ed when the Secretary appears before the committee to talk about the President’s proposed budget. If so, let us know. We should be doing this! It was interesting to me to hear the questions posed about CTE during the House Budget Committee hearing. Questions about employers not able to find skilled workers — very similar to what we often say about the importance of adult ed funding. #3 - ESEA update. I’m flagging this because of the link to CEF-compiled ESEA bills introduced by Senate HELP committee members… some member organizations may want to review. Also, if you are in the mood to despair over the fate of our democracy, by all means check out the blog post Joel links to below (“Student Success Act” to Crush Religious Freedom, Private School Autonomy, Parental Rights: #NO on HR5”) which has apparently served as an actual source of information for far right opponents of HR 5 in the House, a bill which by most measures I gather is considered quite conservative. Jeff Begin forwarded message: > From: Joel Packer <jpacker@cef.org> > Subject: Monday Update > Date: March 9, 2015 at 6:40:36 PM EDT > To: Joel Packer <jpacker@cef.org> > > > 1. CBO Updated Baseline; The Congressional Budget office (CBO) today released its Updated Budget Projections: 2015 to 2025. CBO found that the FY 15 deficit is $18 billion greater than the shortfall it projected in January. Part of the reason for that is due to increased costs of student loans: > Student Loans. CBO increased its estimate of 2015 outlays for student loans by $10 billion, almost entirely because the Department of Education is recording an upward revision to the subsidy costs of loans made in prior years. In addition, several technical updates led CBO to project a $27 billion (or 30 percent) increase in outlays for student loans for the 2016–2025 period. Those updates, reflecting recent data, included higher estimates of the number of loans in default (and lower collections on such loans), increases in the estimated cost to administer the federal student loan programs, and increased participation in repayment plans that are based on the income of borrowers. > > “In contrast, the projected deficits for the 2016–2025 period total $431 billion less than the cumulative deficit that CBO projected in January. The largest factor underlying that reduction is a downward revision to projected growth in private health insurance spending, which is estimated to lower the net cost of the provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that are related to insurance coverage and to increase overall revenues from income and payroll taxes (because a larger share of employees’ compensation over the coming decade is now projected to be paid in the form of taxable wages and salaries).” > > Also see: CBO Cuts Long-Term Deficit Forecast on Lower Insurance Costs (CQ) and CBO: Deficit to grow in 2015 (The Hill) > > CBO also released updated Baseline Projections for > · Pell Grant Programs > · Student Loan Programs > > For Pell, see this table CEF prepared based on the CBO projections. It shows that starting in FY 2018, there will be yearly shortfalls in the Pell grant program (based on the amount need to maintain the current discretionary-funded maximum award of $4,860. This table also assumes that Congress continues to appropriate each year the same amount as it did in FY 2015 ($22.475 billion)). Between FY 2018 and FY 2025, there is a projected cumulative Pell shortfall of $31.848 billion. This is actually an improvement from the January Pell baseline projection, which showed the Pell shortfall starting in FY 2017 and totaling $38.308 billion between FY 17 and FY 25. > > For student loans, CBO shows that the federal government stills earns a profit off of student loans. In FY 2016, the federal government will earn $9.8 billion from student loans, which simply goes to reduce the deficit. Table 2 shows that subsidized Stafford loans now cost the government money, with those costs increasing each year until FY 2020 at which point they level off. Unsubsidized loans and parent loans are still money makers for the government. Table 5 shows that the interest rates on both subsidized and unsubsidized loans will go up each year through FY 2020 and then level off. > > 2. Senate Budget Committee Hearing: The Senate Budget committee is holding this hearing on Wednesday, March 11: The Better Way: Benefits of a Balanced Budget. > > 3. ESEA: Senate HELP Committee Chairman Alexander and Ranking Member Patty Murray today released this statement: > “During the last several weeks we have been working together to build the base for legislation to fix the problems with No Child Left Behind. We are making significant progress in our negotiations. We are aiming to consider and markup legislation to fix the law during the week of April 13th.” > > See: Senators Making Progress in Negotiations on NCLB Rewrite. > > Also see this list CEF compiled of ESEA bills introduced by Senate HELP committee members. > > Meanwhile on the House side, Chairman Kline released #StudentSuccessAct: Restoring State and Local Control of K-12 Education. “The Student Success Act (H.R. 5) is a conservative proposal to replace a flawed education law and stop the administration from governing K-12 schools through executive fiat.” > > BTW, here is a link to the blog post that Kline has referred to: “Student Success Act” to Crush Religious Freedom, Private School Autonomy, Parental Rights: #NO on HR5” > > For a factual look at HR 5, see this new CRS report: ESEA Reauthorization Proposals in the 114th Congress: Selected Key Issues. Also see this CRS report: Teacher Quality Issues in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. > > > > > > > > Joel Packer > CEF Executive Director > JPacker@cef.org > 202-383-0083 > 202-255-0915 (cell) > www.cef.org > www.Twitter.com/edfunding